Nicola Sturgeon today claimed Ed Miliband has 'lost the plot' after suggesting he would rather not be in power than rely on the SNP.

Labour leader Mr Miliband last night sought to give the impression that Labour would have no truck with the SNP, but today senior frontbenchers insisted that 'of course' they would talk to other parties if they fail to secure a majority.

But Ms Sturgeon seized on the remarks, claiming if Mr Miliband would rather let the Tories into power it would be 'the final nail in the coffin of Scottish Labour' and in other parts of the UK.

Nicola Sturgeon today claimed Ed Miliband has 'lost the plot' after suggesting he would rather not be in power than rely on the SNP

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WHO SAID WHAT? LABOUR'S SHIFTING POSITION ON THE SNP

Ed Miliband, Labour leader: 'We are not going to do a deal with the Scottish National Party. If it meant we would not be in government, then so be it.'

Harriet Harman, deputy leader: 'If we form the government it's open to members of Parliament from other parties to support our programme when we are in government.'

Ed Balls, shadow chancellor: 'I don't think there's any possibility of us working with the SNP. Categorically. Absolutely impossible.'

Andy Burnham, shadow health secretary: 'Parties talk in the House of Commons about government business, that's what happens, all parties talk.'

Caroline Flint, shadow energy secretary: 'At the end of the day, whoever forms a government, parties will get a chance to vote for a Queen's Speech, vote for budgets, and vote for policies, that's the same with any government.'

Taking part in a Question Time special last night, Mr Miliband left the door open to relying on the party to prop up his government.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has said she will seek to put Mr Miliband in Number Ten even if Labour finishes 40 seats behind the Tories in a hung Parliament, in exchange for various concessions for Scotland.

During last night's programme, Mr Miliband repeated his opposition to a coalition with the SNP, or a so-called 'confidence and supply' deal which would see the SNP guarantee to support Labour in key votes for a fixed period in exchange for concessions.

Hardening his language, he said he would rather not enter Number Ten than enter such an arrangement.

'We are not going to do a deal with the Scottish National Party. If it meant we would not be in government, then so be it,' Mr Miliband said.

'I'm not going to give in to SNP demands – whether that is on Trident or on the deficit.'‎

Ms Sturgeon, campaigning in Dundee today, said people across the UK would be 'appalled' that Mr Miliband was willing to walk away from power.

She said: 'If Ed Miliband is really saying he would rather have a Tory government than work with the SNP for more progressive politics, then it's final proof that Labour has lost the plot.

'It will be the final nail in the coffin of Scottish Labour, and I suspect Labour in other parts of the UK, and it makes it all the more important that we have a big team of SNP MPs because we will need them to protect Scotland from the Tories because clearly Ed Miliband is not prepared to do it.'

She added: 'I think people across Scotland, and I suspect across other parts of the UK, will be appalled.

'If Ed Miliband is really saying that if there is an anti-Tory majority in the House of Commons and an opportunity to get the Tories out, he would stand back and watch David Cameron go back into Downing Street rather than work with the SNP, people in Scotland will never, ever forgive Labour if that turns out to be the case, and I suspect people in other parts of the UK won't forgive them either.

'I think Ed Miliband is saying these things because he's being bullied and bossed around by the Tories on this.

'I would have thought people who want to see an alternative to the Tories would rather see a Labour leader prepared to stand up to them.

'It's not a good sign when he's so easily bossed about by them.'

Ed Miliband, speaking in Cardiff today, suggested he would rather walk away from power than form a coalition with the SNP but did not rule out rely on their votes in a minority government

Balance of power: SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, pictured today while campaigning in Musselburgh, Scotland, has said without her MPs Mr Miliband 'won't get his Budget through' if he becomes PM

It came after Andy Burnham, Mr Miliband's chief leadership rival today admitted a minority Labour government will talk to the SNP to try to get its legislation through the Commons.

The shadow health secretary said 'of course' Labour would have 'dialogue' with the resurgent Scottish Nationalists, on course to win more than 50 seats and hold the balance of power.

Mr Burnham told BBC Radio 5 Live he simply 'being honest' and giving a 'statement of fact'.

Labour's shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint made clear that the party would be prepared to be propped up by the SNP in key Commons votes.

'What he [Miliband] ruled out was this idea that, somehow, to have a Labour government we're prepared to do a coalition or some other kind of confidence and supply deal.

'But, at the end of the day, whoever forms a government, parties will get a chance to vote for a Queen's Speech, vote for budgets, and vote for policies, that's the same with any government,' Miss Flint said.

The stunt sought to hammer home Conservatives claims that the SNP will help to make Ed Miliband Prime Minister

Mr Miliband's refusal to rule out vote-by-vote negotiations came after Labour grandee David Blunkett raised the possibility of a minority Labour government backed in the Commons by votes from SNP MPs.

The comments from the former Home Secretary, who admitted that Labour was unlikely to win the Election because of the SNP 'tsunami', will fuel growing alarm in the rest of the UK at the prospect of the Scottish Nationalists extracting a high price for propping up a weak Labour administration.

Miss Sturgeon's party is on course to win more than 50 seats in Scotland and hold the balance of power at Westminster, and there is mounting Labour turmoil at polls suggesting their party – which has 41 MPs in Scotland – is facing a total wipeout at the hands of the nationalists. In a last-ditch attempt to halt the SNP surge, Mr Miliband will today appear at a campaign rally in Glasgow and urge voters: 'Don't gamble with the SNP.'

David Cameron, campaigning at an Asda store in Leeds, insisted: 'What Ed Miliband said last night actually changes nothing.

'Because the polls show a potential wipeout for Labour in Scotland, they can only form a government if they have the support of the SNP.

'Is Ed Miliband really saying 'If Labour don't get a majority but Labour plus the SNP is a majority, I won't be prime minister'? Of course he isn't saying that.

'So the threat today is the same as the threat yesterday: Ed Miliband propped up by the SNP, not governing on behalf of the whole of the country. Labour shadow ministers have been out this morning confirming that.'

Message: David Cameron, campaigning at an Asda store in Leeds this moring, has insisted: 'What Ed Miliband said last night actually changes nothing'

Former Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell last night warned an SNP landslide would 'put extra tension' on the UK, particularly if the party ends up holding the balance of power.

Hinting at the perils of a Labour-SNP deal, Lord O'Donnell, now a crossbench peer, said an incoming government may face 'legitimacy issues'.

Yesterday, Jim Sillars, a former deputy leader of the SNP, suggested the 'first line' of the party's manifesto for the 2016 Holyrood election could demand another independence vote.

Miss Sturgeon said talk of another referendum was 'desperate scaremongering', but pressed on the issue, would say only: 'The people of Scotland are in charge.'

Mr Blunkett, who is standing down as an MP, said voters in Scotland were beyond 'rational argument'.

'Once people have stopped listening, once their minds have switched off to even rational argument, then it's extremely difficult to win that back,' he told BBC Radio 4's World at One.

'It is though a great part of the Scottish nation have switched off, and that is so dangerous for the Union and for the future of Britain as a whole.'

Mr Blunkett suggested Labour could rely on the SNP's votes to get legislation through. 'It's possible that we could put a minority government in place which did not have a formal agreement – was not in hock to and did not find itself run by a minority national nationalist party – but could expect them to actually vote on the things that they themselves have committed to,' he said.

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said: 'A former Labour Home Secretary admits what all the polls show – it is impossible for Ed Miliband to get the keys to Number Ten without being propped up by Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond.'